Disorders In The US Criminal Justice System: Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

1426 Words6 Pages

Disorders are the disturbance of normal functioning within the body and mind, including mental illnesses. People with disorders need attention and care to help them keep their sanity. Unlike mental health hospitals, prisons and the U.S. Criminal Justice System does not give individuals with disorders the treatment they need and deserve. Due to the fact that prisoners with disorders are not given the treatment they need and are taken advantage of, our U.S. Criminal Justice System needs to include staff that help prisoners avoid certain unwanted behaviors. One problem within the U.S. Criminal Justice System is that prisoners with disorders are not given the treatment that they need. In the book Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson shares one of the cases …show more content…

Also receiving the treatment within the jail will allow them to continue to practice safe habits when released rather than behaving criminally and impulsively bringing them back to prison. The National Alliance on Mental Illness believes that prisoners with mental health deserve access to quality mental health treatment. They give statistics to prove that mental illnesses within jails are a big problem and later provide links to what they have already done to help mentally ill prisoners in jails not receiving the treatment they need. The author believes, “People with mental illness who are incarcerated deserve access to appropriate mental health treatment, including screening, regular and timely access to mental health providers, and access to medications and programs that support recovery”(“Treatment While Incarcerated”). To be able to involve all of these different types of treatments, prisons first need to be able to include educated staff. These staff members will need to take the time to talk and learn about the prisoner because prisoners who endure histories of physical, sexual, and or emotional abuse do not trust anyone and feel worthless. If these staff members were to never be included, once the prisoner would leave they would come right back because they started behaving upon impulse. Prisons need to involve …show more content…

Stephens, a doctor of psychology, points out, “encounters resistance from staff who believe it is not their job to ‘make things easy for inmates’”(Stringer). Of course, staff members of prisons are not paid to care for inmates' disorders, staff members are paid to keep the prison in order. Later Stephens contradicts, “‘But with some explanation and discussion, staff become more open and positive, especially because these strategies create a